What
is the biggest attitude prevalent within the various Sabbath-keeping Churches
of God that prevents unity, flies in the face of unity?It is having the attitude of “We’re
the one true Church of God with direct descent to the Ephesus era of the
churches of God under Paul, John, Polycarp and Policrates.”That is one
of the major belief/attitudes that is holding all the major and minor
Sabbath-keeping Churches of God denominations apart, keeping them from
successfully unifying into one.And this, for one, is a very prideful attitude for a church, pastor or
denomination to take.And even if
or should there be one of those denominations that can successfully lay claim
to that coveted, hallowed title, they from local pastor to denominational
leader, had better never ever state that as their sincere belief to those members under
them.If one such Sabbath-keeping
Church of God ever hopes or desires to promote unity under its own banner, they
had better be the last ones to ever make that statement.Instead they should take on an attitude
of total humility, and promoting this attitude to their members, that we’re not
to think of ourselves as being any better than the other groups, an attitude of
giving honor and showing love in both word and deed toward the other
Sabbath-keeping Churches of God and especially their members.Why?And this is important.Please consider this.

The Holy Spirit
Indwelling Each One Of Us Unites Us Together

A
second point about unity within the Body of Christ (Sabbath-keeping side that
is), God’s DNA, the Holy Spirit, for the most part, is within most of the
ordinary members of the various Sabbath-keeping Churches of God that broke off
from the Worldwide Church of God (and may also richly dwell within many SDA
members, who can say?).This makes
us all one, brothers and sisters in Christ, because we all share the same
indwelling Holy Spirit.So to make
such a statement of direct descent shows great disrespect to all these
others.Proverbs 18:24 states, “A
man that hath friends must shew himself friendly…”I think the King James translators should have made the “that hath” to “that wants” that is, if you want friends, you have
to show yourself friendly, not be verbally smacking them in the face.To take the high and mighty, lofty
attitude ‘that we (i.e. insert your denomination’s name here) can claim
direct descent to the early Church’ only promotes a condescending attitude toward all the
other Sabbath-keeping Churches of God, our brothers in Christ via the Holy
Spirit.They, just like us,
whether we personally feel their leaders are “with it” or not, have the exact
same Holy Spirit, God’s DNA, indwelling them.Take this as just an example, not that I’m pointing at
anyone who may have made a statement like this (but simply because I attended
one of Fred Coulter’s house-churches, so I know how his members would feel
about hearing such a thing through the grapevine), but just say you as a member
heard a pastor in your denomination go on a rant to you against
house-churches.He, whether he
realizes it or not, is directly attacking Fred Coulter’s Christian Biblical
Church of God and all
those who are attending his affiliated house-churches, all those Holy Spirit
indwelt brothers and sisters in Christ of ours.This ought not to be done.We all have close ex-WCG friends or family members scattered
throughout all the various Sabbath-keeping Churches of God (we have a family in
the congregation I attend whose mother, brother and sister attend one of Fred’s
CBCG house-churches, so this is real).Because of this, what is said in one church can easily make its way into
another.But on the other hand, if
our pastors in humility promote an attitude of love and respect for all the
other Sabbath-keeping Churches of God (whether their leadership deserves it or
not in our eyes or in reality), your denomination through its loving attitude
will take on a very warm, friendly and welcoming attitude toward all the
members of the other Sabbath-keeping Church of God denominations.If it is true unity we desire within
the Body of Christ, we must be actively promoting it by directly eliminating
the prideful “We’re the one and only true Church of God” attitude and replacing
it with love and humility for all the others.We must actively purge this attitude from our midst.This is the first step toward restoring
unity in the Body of Christ.

The Four
Freedoms of the Believer

What Have We
Learned From Our Past?

What
is one of the major evils, sins most of the Sabbath-keeping Churches of God
denominations have “inherited” from their parent church, the Worldwide Church
of God?Ron Dart, a former
evangelist in the Worldwide Church of God, sums it up quite well when he says
“Christians may not have recognized their own motives, the WCG may not either…I
don’t know how much of a role old habits played in HWA’s evangelistic efforts, but
I do know he looked for differentiation, and he did so adversarially, as an
adman naturally would.What he wanted were wedge issues:issues that could be used to drive a
wedge between a person and his old church so the person could be attracted to
the WCG.And he wanted exclusive
use of the product.He didn’t want
you coming to church with him this week and going somewhere else next
week.The wedge issues are
familiar:born again, heaven &
hell…, Sabbath verses Sunday, pagan holidays, immortal soul, etc.But, in typical adman style, Mr.
Armstrong advanced these with hyperbole and often took them too far in the attempt
to differentiate.[i.e. to draw
people from their churches and into the WCG.]Other products (read denominations or churches) were
demonized to complete the sale.The long and the short [of this was], one of the by-products of this
[evangelistic] approach was a church that was long on hostility and short on
tolerance.”Ron Dart continues
under the heading of “Christ Does Not Put One in the Church?” where he says, “One of the demons of
differentiation is vanity.‘We
are better than you are.’‘We have the truth and you don’t.’Arrogance is the bitter fruit of vanity.Another demon is exclusivism.Yet another is authoritarianism, necessary to keep us exclusive:“You can’t join the church; Christ has to put you into
it”---which means we have to approve you, and we can blackball you.I don’t think we should be driven by
the demons of differentiation.Rather, we should be drawn to Christ, where we will find our differences
accepted or corrected as need be---and where we find ourselves together in ways
unexpected and unanticipated. Some are finding it difficult to relate to other
Sabbatarian groups because they lose some of their identity in the process…”
(Dart R.Beware of the demons of
differentiation.The Journal,
January 31, 2003, p.10 emphasis mine throughout.)What Ron Dart describes here, these demons of exclusivism,
authoritarianism, vanity and arrogance are exactly the opposite of God’s agape-love he’s told us to be growing in (see http://www.unityinchrist.com/Agape/Agape%20I.htm.If you want to be part of the solution and not part of the
problem, be sure to log onto and study that awesome series on what Agape is.)

The Four Freedoms
of the Believer Stated:

The
four basic freedoms of the believer are succinctly listed by Ron Dart
here.I found myself, looking back
into my WCG experience, quietly living by these freedoms, although I didn’t
fully realize it.Did that make me
a rebel, an independent, or did I just internally realize within my heart what
my God-given rights were as a believer in Jesus Christ?Let’s take a good look at these four
freedoms, as so well expressed again by Ron Dart:“…we believe a church should be committed to following four
freedoms:1) Freedom of
Association.A church should not discriminate
between members upon whether they associate with other persons, churches or
groups, but rather should encourage a spirit of cooperation and
communication.2) Freedom of
Giving.A church should not require members to
give or tithe to the church either in whole or in part, although normal
fund-raising is appropriate.Tithing and giving are acts of personal worship and must not be
interfered with by anyone.[And I
might add, if your church or denomination is acting as it should, really
nurturing your members spiritually, and doing a superior job in evangelizing
the world as Christ calls for, then your members will be properly motivated by
that fact to give most or all of their tithes to the church and/or denomination
they attend.In my mind, it’s not
that God doesn’t command for us to give tithes and offerings, but he gives us
the right to decide where and to whom to give them to.This is a God-given right.Ron Dart said it, so don’t stone me J]3. Freedom of Conscience.A church should not discriminate
between members based on their privately held beliefs [assuming those beliefs
aren’t heretical, of course.Don’t
be so open-minded your brains fall out].They may, however, require certain practices as a condition of full
membership or office (such as Sabbath and festival attendance.)[Boy, have I recently discovered what
it feels like to come under that “discrimination.”Churches that do not grant this freedom of conscience tend
to be toxic, abusive and unfriendly---and they do not grow.]4. Freedom of Attendance.A church should not discriminate or sanction member attendance except in
cases of egregious misconduct (1st Corinthians 5:1 ff.)disturbing services, or willfully
causing division.For instance, a
person will not be barred from church attendance because he or she is still
struggling with the Sabbath…” [or I might add, Freedom #3, they will not be
barred or ostracized or disfellowshipped for having differing privately held
beliefs which are secondary in nature.](Dart, Ronald, Why CEM?...4/12/03)[My comments in [ ] brackets throughout.]

Church
congregations that live by and maintain these Four Freedoms of the
Believer are
usually pleasant and very friendly, a joy to attend, as the attitudes of being
judgmental of others are left at the door.You might consider adopting them for your own church, or as
an individual.

375 Differing Sabbath-keeping
Churches of God Split Off The Worldwide Church of God, All Saying They’re “the
One True Church”

“Show
us how much we agree instead of how much we disagree.”That is a beautiful saying, but how do
we apply it?Whether you’re a
pastor or local member, stop using or putting up with politics at the pulpit
that divides, stop slamming the other Sabbath-keeping Churches of God or
looking down upon members that come from them, welcome cross-church fellowship
instead of shunning it and visiting members from the other Sabbath-keeping
Churches of God.Jesus wants unity
within his Body of Believers, not disunity (see http://www.unityinchrist.com/prophets/Zephaniah/Zephaniah1.htm and scroll to Zephaniah 2:1-3 and read
that section).The First Freedom
of the Believer, Freedom of Association, means we’re not discouraging or
banning people who associate with other Christian groups, Sabbath-keeping
Churches of God.Sadly, it’s the
ministers and Sabbath-keeping denominational leaders that have separated us,
divided us, instead of uniting us, and it’s usually been over petty doctrinal
differences in extremely secondary areas of Biblical interpretation.Applying what Ron Dart said to this
bigger issue of disunity amongst the Sabbath-keeping Churches of God, the
differing Church of God denominations made themselves “wedge issues,” using
interpretations in minor doctrinal areas to separate themselves out from the
others, promoting exclusivism, and enforcing it with authoritarianism.The motive, some of it’s been purely
over power and politics, and “whose going to control the tithes.”This is disgusting in the eyes of Jesus
Christ.All of the Sabbath-keeping
Churches of God either say outright or imply that “they’re the One True Church”
and that all others are either false, or inferior to one degree or
another.This is where following
the third freedom of the believer as an individual can contribute to unity, not
allowing differences in secondary interpretational beliefs to separate you from
the rest of the Body of Christ.If
a denomination adopts and promotes this freedom, its members will automatically
start to reach out in friendship to the members of all the other groups
whenever the opportunity provides itself, contributing to the unity Christ
desires.These freedoms are
powerful, and they go directly against disunity.Beware of real heresy, but realize all differences in
secondary beliefs are not heresy.Accepting real heretical teachings is akin to being so open-minded you
let your brains fall out.But
agreeing to disagree in areas of secondary belief is the key to allowing
Freedom of Conscience, the third Freedom of the Believer.We, as individual believers, have to
make a conscious decision to avoid and eliminate attitudes that divide.That is where unity begins, in the mind.And if your pastor doesn’t promote
attitudes that unite the Body of Christ, and you see your church is a bit toxic
in this area, find a Sabbath-keeping Church of God that is not as toxic, more
accepting of these Four Freedoms of the Believer.Don’t be afraid to vote with your feet if you should realize
you’re in a toxic church.I’m not
promoting rebellion, far from it.But I am saying we must make a conscious effort to avoid these attitudes
that Jesus Christ hates, attitudes that have made churches toxic, attitudes
that have divided us.This short
article is also a litmus test.How?Those churches or
denominations that tend toward the toxic side will hate what’s being said here,
and will fight against it with all their might.Those that are genuinely growing in the grace and knowledge
of Jesus Christ and his agape-love will start to accept these freedoms, and
come to embrace them as time goes on.It’s a natural progression of growth toward spiritual maturity.Concerning the Second Freedom of the Believer,
Freedom of Giving, we all agree that tithing and giving of offerings is a
command of God, but to whom you tithe to, to which organization, is totally up
to you, it is an act of worship.How does this work?You
should feel comfortable in whom you tithe and give offerings to, you should
feel good about giving to that Christian organization, and feel that by giving
to it you are giving to God.You
should never feel like you have to give to the church you attend, just because
they demand it.That is the first
sign that something is wrong.God
says he loves a cheerful giver, and if someone is demanding that you tithe to
them alone, exclusively, that kind of puts a crimp on cheerful giving.Again it’s a question about toxicity
verses the freedom of choice which God has granted you as a believer.In the end, God will stop blessing the
toxic churches, and bless the ones offering the most freedom of choice, within
the guidelines of his Word, and this will also contribute to unity, as Jesus
Christ de-funds the toxic churches.I don’t think Jesus is messing around here anymore.Time will tell.

Some Of Us Are
Walking Down That Road Toward Unity

Just
for the record, if you have not surmised it, I attend a couple local
congregations in the United Church of God.As far as doctrinal understanding, I do not believe any one
of the major Sabbath-keeping Churches of God is any more correct than any
other, they’re all pretty much the same on major points of doctrine.The reason I attend United is because I
sincerely believe they’re going through some sort of spiritual revival, and I
find it refreshing.It’s a
personal choice to attend.A
friend of mine who attends Robin Webber’s San Diego congregation of the United
Church of God made some comments about my article on the Four Freedoms of the
Believer, a few of which I’ve excerpted here.Not every congregation in United has adhered to these Four
Freedoms, some are
more “hard-line,” adhering to older understandings coming from the old
Worldwide Church of God, as in other Sabbath-keeping Churches of God.It’s just I find these four freedoms
point us toward the road to unity for all of us, if we have the courage to
travel down it.And it is a road
that requires a certain attitude and adherence to these four principles.They do not altar our doctrinal
understanding one single bit.Here
are excerpted comments of my friend who attends Robin Webber’s San Diego UCG
congregation, his comments about that article “The Four Freedoms of The
Believer”:“One of the things that
greatly annoyed Jesus, I think, was arrogance.‘We are the only ones, and you’re not one of us, so
you’re illegitimate.’ This is exactly the attitude that WCG had, and it persists today.Personally, I’m not going to limit who
God can work with.”Another point
he made was this, “HWA liked to say that ‘church’ means ‘called-out ones,’ when it really means ‘assembly.’ This caused 2 things:1) the formation of a nation-wide, even world-wide “church”, which was
never an assembly, but worse, it left the “church” to decide if you were really
a “called-out one” and if a person could come to church.This is still practiced by some of the
Sabbath-keeping Church of God denominations, and annoys me greatly.If they want to come [i.e. new
people] and learn about Jesus Christ and the kingdom of God, let ‘em in!What are we blocking the door
for!?Jesus said do not
forbid the little ones from coming to him.”… [about] “Freedom of association.Robin Webber told me when I first
started coming to UCG, that I was always welcome, and if I didn’t come for
awhile, I was still welcome.I
regularly fellowship with my wife at LCG, and Webber encourages me to do so,
calling me an ambassador for UCG.Others in our congregation attend elsewhere at times, and no one looks
at them askance.”[About the
Freedom of Giving he said,] “UCG does not monitor tithes or offerings.We are free in that regard, too.As to freedom of conscience, I use
these standards:If they are
sowing discord or causing division, it must be addressed.If they are affecting how you worship
God or how you live your Christian life or how you lead your family (for
example, the Tkachian apostasy), then it must be addressed.If they bring shame upon the
congregation by their unrepentant behavior, it must be addressed.If they corrupt the congregation with
their unrepentant behavior, it must be addressed.Otherwise, respect for difference in views must be the rule
and it is in the San Diego UCG.Our Bible chat is a great way to study the Bible, but the real value is
to learn to appreciate and respect each other’s different opinions, and to
respect them as Christians honestly trying to serve God, as I am.”Those were the comments of a friend of
mine who attends Robin Webber’s San Diego United Church of God
congregation.This friend in the
San Diego UCG also remarked that he would love to just read that paper verbatim
that I sent to him about Ron Dart’s Four Freedoms (included in this article), but it
would just bore the members, since they’ve been following them for years now,
like preaching to the choir.What
we need to do now is apply what Robin Webber has done in his congregations
across the board, in all our congregations, it’s a near perfect model of where
we need to go spiritually, to achieve spiritual maturity within our
congregations.

Another Analogy
About How We Are One

What
follows is the way I view all of the various Sabbath-keeping Church of God
denominations that sprang off of the Worldwide Church of God around 1995.Again, I detect a spiritual revival
going on within the one I attend, so it’s my personal choice to attend that
one.It does not mean it’s the
best, or the “One And Only True Church of God.”We must be very careful to not say anything disrespectful
against the leaders whom Jesus is using to guide and protect those within the
other Sabbath-keeping Church of God denominations.For the most part, Jesus is keeping those children of his
safe and sound through them.Personally, I like the analogy that says that all the differing
Sabbath-keeping Church of God denominations are like the different ships in the
United States Navy during WWII, some are sleek destroyers and cruisers, some
are like old cargo ships.They’re
all serving in the Navy of Jesus Christ.Unlike the US Navy, Jesus, regardless of what any pastor or church
leader will tell you, allows you to transfer to any ship in his navy.Once transferred, naturally, you should
serve that ship and it’s captain loyally.He also allows freedom to visit other ships in his Navy, just like we
see within Robin Webber’s UCG congregation.Sadly there may be a few ships like the “SS Bucket” in that
1960s movie Mr. Roberts,
whose captain would not allow Mr. Roberts to transfer to that ‘sleek,
fast cruiser going into harms way.’The crew
took a real chance, and had a contest to see who could forge the skippers name
the best, and they had the winner sign Mr. Roberts request for transfer with
the skipper’s name.Under the
principle of “freedom of association” it ought not to be like being aboard the
SS Bucket.There are a few “ships”
that are like that, sadly.